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Monthly Archives: July 2008
Check your proof texts (Part 2)
In my last post, I mentioned the need to check for yourself the references supplied as ‘proof texts’ by preachers or writers. I gave the example of cross-references given by the Roman Catholic Catechism in support of its doctrine of purgatory. Today, I have two more examples of claims made by evangelical academics that were only disproved by checking the references myself. Both concern the gender debates.
Check your proof texts (Part 1)
At the end of the current issue of The Briefing (July/August 2008), Nathan Walter mentioned some cautions on the trend of listening more and more to sermons downloaded from the internet (often from current evangelical heroes). But it was this piece of advice that I really want to echo:
An Interview with Ben Pfahlert
Ben, how did you come to Christ?
Podcast: Shifting to the personal
Audio
Tony Payne interviews Col Marshall, former Director of the Ministry Training Strategy, about people-focused ministry (MP3).
A scary, prayer-rie verse
For the last few months, I’ve been catching up weekly with my friend Alex. We meet to pray and read the Bible together, and, like a plague of two Egyptian locusts, to raid the contents of my fridge or the local takeaway (depending where we meet) for something resembling lunch.
Climbing the mountain (Zechariah Part III)
Elsewhere, I’ve described studying Zechariah as a bit like climbing a mountain: a great deal of effort, but well and truly worth it for the extraordinary view of God’s creation, through Jesus Christ. But whereas I thought I was just waxing poetical, Tim McMahon (and since then, other helpful friends) have helped me to see that there really is a mountain right there in the structure of Zechariah. It’s in Zechariah 1:7-6:8, and the best way to understand it is to climb over it!
Virtues we hate: chastity
Of all the ancient virtues, this one is not only out of step with contemporary culture but positively despised by it. At the beginning of the 21st century, many have accepted the idea that we are defined by sex—and I mean the activity, not simply our gender. Any attempt to introduce limits to sexual expression is then seen as an assault upon who I am, a violation of my fundamental human rights. Whatever else human beings are, they are sexual at the core. No wonder, then, that the decision to abstain from sexual activity—for whatever reason—is regarded as, well let’s face it, unnatural.
Zechariah—really struggling here! (Part II)
Sola panel readers will remember my first post on Zechariah where I expressed a certain degree of anxiety about understanding it, even with the wonderfully worthwhile help of Tim McMahon, whose studies on this book I’ve just been editing. Today, the story continues …
Has the Roman Catholic Church changed its mind?
The Council of Trent is a Roman Catholic Council that met in the middle of the 16th century specifically in order to condemn Protestant teaching on how we get right with God. In particular, they condemned the notion of ‘justification by faith alone’, an idea summarized and taught by Paul’s words in Romans 3:21-26:
A Very Special Tent
I’ve just finished reading C.S. Lewis’ classic The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to my daughter. It’s a book full of wonderful parables and analogies to the gospel. At one point, when the children in the story are discussing Aslan (the lion character who represents Jesus Christ), the youngest child Lucy asks,
Work and the kingdom of God
Why do we work? What value do we attach to our work? Does our choice of jobs matter?
There’s a lot of talk in Christian circles these days about work. Much of that talk seems to put a value on work that I simply don’t find in the Bible.
The coming of the Son of Man: A response to Sandy’s first post
Discussions about the Apocalyptic Discourse have to involve timing. Obviously I have a problem with this, given how slow I am to emerge from my underworld to respond to Sandy Grant’s invitation to discuss Matthew 24. Sorry about that! Even with Sandy’s pre-warning, I have been found sleeping like a disciple in Gethsemane.
An interview with Peter Bolt
Peter, how did you come to Christ?
In my final year of high school, I came across some Christians who told me the gospel. I thought, “If that is true, that is the best news I have ever heard”. It took me about 12 months to work out that it was true.
The broken marriage of preaching and pastoring
It’s sometimes said of a minister of a congregation (and not necessarily with unkind intent) that, although they struggle somewhat as a preacher, they are brilliant pastors. Sometimes the comment runs in the other direction: “[Insert name] is a fine preacher, but he lacks pastoral ability”. It’s not hard to grasp what people mean by this. Some people are fine communicators in the pulpit, but are quite poor at interpersonal relationship. They’re like the minister who is regularly seen working at his desk, but who has trained his secretary so well that it is almost impossible to speak to him without an appointment (which could be anything up to two weeks away!). Other ministers have attractive personalities and good social skills, and are loved by all, but somehow they fail to speak to a congregation with clarity and conviction. (more…)